Archer Avenue
| Ronald J. Bragassi Memorial Road State Street (LockportandFairmontonly) | |
 Archer Avenue north ofMidway Airport | |
| Part of |   IL 83/IL 171 |
|---|---|
| Length | 33.6 mi (54.1 km) |
| Location | Joliet–Chicago |
| Southwest end | Dartmouth Avenue (turns into Collins Street locally)41°35′49″N88°03′14″W/ 41.59704°N 88.053834°W |
| Northeast end | State Street(approx. 1900 South)41°51′23″N87°37′38″W/ 41.856514°N 87.627172°W |
Archer Avenue,sometimes known asArcher Roadoutside theChicago,Illinoiscity limits, and also known asState Streetonly inLockport, IllinoisandFairmont, Illinoiscity limits, is a street running northeast-to-southwest betweenChicago's Chinatownand Lockport. Archer follows the original trail crossing theChicago Portagebetween theChicago Riverand theDes Plaines River,and parallels the path of theIllinois and Michigan Canaland theAlton Railroad.As a main traffic artery, it has largely been replaced by the modernStevenson Expressway.
The street was named after the first commissioner of theIllinois and Michigan Canal,William Beatty Archer.[1]One early map of Chicago[2](ca. 1830) listed what may have been the future Archer Road as "The Road to Widow Brown's"[nb 1].
Route description
[edit]The east end of Archer begins inChicago's Chinatown,then passes through theBridgeport,McKinley ParkandBrighton Parkneighborhoods on its way toArcher HeightsandGarfield Ridge.Outside Chicago, Archer Avenue/Road passes through the villages ofSummit,Justice,Willow Springs,and the southern edge ofLemontbefore terminating on the north side ofLockport.Between Summit and Lockport, Archer Avenue is designated as a part ofIllinois Route 171.
Points of interest
[edit]Southwest of Lemont, Archer passesCog Hill Golf & Country Club,site of numerousProfessional Golfers Associationtournaments.
History
[edit]Historically, this section of Archer was a part ofIllinois Route 4,the original 1924 highway connectingSt. Louisand Chicago.[4]In 1926, Route 4 was rerouted to the north side of theDes Plaines Riveron an alignment that subsequently becameU.S. Route 66,and its former route on Archer was redesignated as Illinois Route 4A.[5]By 1939, Route 4A had been extended along most of Archer Avenue into Downtown Chicago.[6]In 1967, Route 4A was truncated back to Summit and merged into Illinois Route 171.[7]
Historical sites
[edit]The former site ofArgonne National Laboratoryand its predecessor, theUniversity of ChicagoMetallurgical Laboratoryin the forest preserve nearRed Gate Woods,can be entered from an access road on Archer Avenue.[8]This was once a secretManhattan Projectsite, and is now known as theSite A/Plot M Disposal Site.Chicago Pile-1(CP-1), the world's first nuclear reactor, was moved fromStagg Fieldto this site in 1943 and renamed Chicago Pile-2 (CP-2). The remains of CP-1, CP-2, andChicago Pile-3(CP-3) remain buried at this site.
A defunct Playland Amusement Park opened in mid-summer of 1950 which, at the time, was located in Willow Springs, Illinois. Back then, Willow Springs used to be an unincorporated community. The amusement park was located at 9300 West 79th Street in present-day Justice, Illinois.[9]
In popular culture
[edit]
Archer Avenue was made famous byFinley Peter Dunnein his books and sketches about the fictionalsaloonkeeperMr. Dooley,whose tavern was on "Archey Road". The fictional Dooley "lived" in the real-lifeBridgeport, Chicagoneighborhood.
Archer Avenue is also famous as the purported haunting place ofResurrection Mary,avanishing hitchhikerwho is said to travel between theWillowbrook Ballroomand Resurrection Cemetery.[10][11]
Major intersections
[edit]| County | Location | mi[12] | km | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Will | Joliet |  IL 171south (Collins Street) | Continuation beyond Dartmouth Avenue | ||
| Joliet–Fairmontline | 0.0 | 0.0 | Dartmouth Avenue | Southwestern terminus | |
| Lockport | 2.7 | 4.3 |  IL 7(9th Street) | ||
| 6.7 | 10.8 |   I-355 Toll(Veterans Memorial Tollway) | |||
| Lemont | 9.2 | 14.8 |   CR 35west (135th Street - Romeo Road) | ||
| Cook | 10.3 | 16.6 | CR B51east (131st Street) | ||
| 11.2 | 18.0 | CR B50west (127th Street) | |||
| Lemont Township | 12.1 | 19.5 | CR W18south (Bell Road) | ||
| Sag Bridge | 12.3 | 19.8 | IL 83south (111th Street) | Southern end of IL 83 overlap | |
| 13.1 | 21.1 |  IL 83north (Kingery Highway) | Northern end of IL 83 overlap | ||
| Willow Springs | 17.7 | 28.5 | CR W79south (Nolton Avenue) | ||
| Willow Springs–Justiceline | 18.7 | 30.1 |      US 12/US 20/US 45(La Grange Road) /I-294 Tollsouth (Tri-State Tollway) | I-294 southbound entrance only; to mainline toll barrier | |
| Justice | 19.2 | 30.9 | 79th Street | Northbound IL 171 exit; southbound IL 171 entrance | |
| Bedford Park–Bridgeviewline | 21.1 | 34.0 |   CR W32south (Roberts Road) | ||
| Summit | 22.8 | 36.7 | IL 171north (1st Avenue) | Northern end of IL 171 overlap | |
| Summit–Chicagoline | 23.2 | 37.3 |  IL 43(SouthHarlem Avenue) | ||
| Chicago | 26.3 | 42.3 |  IL 50(SouthCicero Avenue) | ||
| 29.3 | 47.2 | CR W94(California Avenue) | |||
| 31.2 | 50.2 | CR W48south (Ashland Avenue) | |||
| 33.6 | 54.1 | SouthState Street | Northeastern terminus | ||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
| |||||
Notes
[edit]
- ^"There is a dispute about the route taken from Chicago to Widow Brown's house in the woods on the north branch of Hickory Creek (east of Mokena). One historian asserts that it went southwest (on Archer Ave. to Justice Park), thence.... Others assert that it went southward on State St. and Vincennes Ave. on the road to Blue Island, and thence southwesterly on what is now the Southwest Highway."[3]
References
[edit]- ^Encyclopedia of ChicagoArchivedSeptember 29, 2007, at theWayback Machine
- ^Map of Hardscrabble Area, 1830
- ^"Nature Bulletin 738 Early Cook County Roads -- Park One".Nature Bulletins.Forest Preserve District of Cook County (Illinois). 1964-01-11.Retrieved2009-04-28.
- ^Illinois Secretary of State (1924).Illinois Official Auto Trails Map(Map). [c. 1:950,000 and c. 1:1,110,000]. Springfield: Illinois Secretary of State – via Illinois Digital Archives.
- ^Illinois Secretary of State; Rand McNally (1926).Illinois Official Auto Road Map(Map). [c. 1:950,000 and c. 1:1,110,000]. Springfield: Illinois Secretary of State – via Illinois Digital Archives.
- ^Illinois Secretary of State; Rand McNally (1939).Illinois Road Map(Map) (1939–1940 ed.). c. 1:918,720. Springfield: Illinois Secretary of State – via Illinois Digital Archives.
- ^Illinois Division of Highways; Rand McNally (1967).Illinois Official Highway Map(Map). [1:772,500]. Springfield: Illinois Division of Highways – via Illinois Digital Archives.
- ^Argonne National LaboratoryArchivedJune 16, 2007, at theWayback Machine
- ^Playland Amusement Park Facebook Group
- ^"Haunted Archer Avenue!".Archived fromthe originalon 2007-08-14.Retrieved2007-06-01.
- ^Ursula Bielski,Chicago Haunts: Ghostlore of the Windy City,2nd ed., Chicago: Lake Claremont Press, 1997.
- ^"Archer Avenue (Chicago-Joliet) Map".
External links
[edit]
Media related toArcher Avenue (Chicago)at Wikimedia Commons
